110 - What is your interest in 'your' language and what do you hope to accomplish this semester?
My interest in American Sign Language started with meeting one of my best friends when I studied in Israel and she happened to be deaf. After a week or two of communicating on passing a phone back and forth and typing in Notes, I decided to take up learning ASL from her. Since then I have grown to love the language, deaf culture, and some of the issues that I have learned about in the deaf community.
Based on the "Level of Competence" document, I would place myself at an Intermediate level of Developing 2. I have the basics of conversation down to a level of comfort, but I need to learn more grammar and structure of signing, improve my ability to understand others outside of just my one friend that I learned from, and I would hope to work towards a level of competence that I could seek interpreting certification by years end. I could also expand into learning some universal sign potentially as well (ASL is specific to America; other countries have differences)
105 - Reflect on your experiences as a language learner. What did you enjoy? What did you dislike? Think about the FIRE model and the surveys you have just completed. What kind of learner are you? What kinds of language learning activities suit your learning style? How do you think you should expand your learning activities?
I enjoy learning languages, but I definitely work better as a learner when I can have hands on practice (pun intended). Constant repetition, correction from whomever is teaching me, learning through messing up is the best way I have found myself improving as a language learner.I am definitely a kinesthetic learner, which is why I love sign language so much. Learning the nuances of facial expression as being a part of grammar is something that I struggle with at times, because that is something you cannot really learn unless you are immersed in a deaf community. I would consider it as being similar to getting down pronunciation within spoken languages. I need to find someone in the Richmond Area that I could meet and talk (sign) with regularly if I am going to improve, though I had a friend suggest that I find larger groups to practice with because that is where I tend to have issues in understanding.
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